Manufacture of glass headers for electron tubes and the like



Feb. 22, 1944.

S. ELLEFSON IN VEN TOR.

1944- B. s. ELLEFSON HEADERS FOR ELECTR 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 12, 1940 INVENTOR.

HE LIKE Feb. 22, 1944. B. s. ELLEFSON MANUFACTURE OF GLASS HEADERS FOR ELECTRON TUBES AND T Filed Nov. 12, 1940 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR. By ag 6 Patented Feb- 22.1944 2,342,609-

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,342,609 MANUFACTURE or Gmss nalmlias roa ELECTRON Tunas asp THE mm Bennett 8. Eliei'son, Emporium, Pa., assignor to Sylvania Electric Products Inc., a corporation of Massachusetts Application November 12, 1940, Serial No. 365,198 2 Claims. (Cl. 49-78) This invention refers to glass articles and in and plan views illustrating a modified method of particular to a method or making glass headers forming a header according to the invention. such as those used in radio tubes and similar Referring to Fig. 1, there is shown a furnace I rt e oi any well-known construction adapted to re- It is a principal object of the inventionto devise ceive a crucible 2 containing the prepared glass 3, method for making disc and cup shap d glas melt 01' batch 3 88 described hereinabove. Pl'flfheaders with a number of vacuum tight sealed-in erably the crucible is seated on a fire-brick rigid metal leads, p p which is heated by a suitable gas jet 5a passing A feature of the invention refers to the preph h th opening The top wall 01' the furaration of the glass parts to be used for making hace has an opening 5 through which 1 8 the glass headers.

According to one feature 01' the invention, the glass rod which can be awn from the melt 3 by glass blanks are made from a semi-finished maimmersing the ehd of a Previously cooled and terial of a nature similar to glass tubing which 15 solidified glass rod or cane made from the same can be prepared in a simple way but which has a g Pumhg the Said rod form 15119 Viscous form better adapted than glass tubing for the pull 7 sumcient length that the latter can purpose of making headem v be given one or more starting turns around the The hot glass is drawn continuously from the forming mandrel which is rotated at a predetersurface of a suitable melt into a plastic viscous mined speed in the direction of the arrow. Man- 20 drel 8 is rotated preferably at uniform speed ropy rod or cane by an upward pull applied to it by a small piece of previously cooled and solidified around the f' 9 2 indicated by arrow A but 15 glass from the same melt which is wound over a not moved d axis In order to solidify the successive turns as they mandrel on w m is formed from the are coiled around the mandrel, and in order to give the turns the proper pitch, preferably the ou f fi'oi i ie rti l elt i ifi i t iafl tgnf o eg at lir g mandrel is water'cooled or air'cooled- This 6001- the composition of glass determine the di ing of the mandrel also prevents adherence of the molten glass thereto during rotation thereof.

eter of the cane while it is formed into the glass coil on the mandrel. The mandrel may be made of graphite, or of any alloy which can be used is cooled to at for making molding dies for glass.

The solid glass coil is taken oil. the mandrel in convenient lengths and divided into single turns which may be used directly for forming glass the mandrel as hm headers and simultaneously sealing the pin leads For t purpos m g? g 3123515; z fi az hz ti it and the tubulation to them. m ndr 1 t Fig. 1 shows a crosssection of the crucible and z g 3 523; 26 3) which can be furnace from which the hot glass cane is p l d an angle it s pect to the axis of mandrel I over a mandrel on which it is Wound up c 40 so that in conjunction with the rate of cooling or uously. the viscous coils and the rate of rotation of ma Fig. 2 sh ws a perspective View Of a SectiOh, drel the desired pitch and shape of the 1111:]

of a s 11 wound n the mandrel solidified coils can be controlled. Preferably the V Fig. 2a is a sectional view of Fig- 2 along th first few turns of the coiled glass are formed line 2a-2a. 5 around the mandrel by hand and in cooperation Fig. 3 illustrates a detail of one step in the with plate 26. The number oiinitial or starting 1 method of winding the coil. turns must be large enough to insure an appro- Fi 4 d 5 d o a e h way he t o sin priate rigidity to the hand wound turns so that gle turns of two coils are placed into the molding subsequently as'the succeeding turns are formed die for forming and sealing the header. by rotation of the mandrel the hand wound turns Figs. 4a and 5a are sectional views of Figs. 4 cooperate in the nature of a lead-screw with plate and 5 r spectively. 26 to cause them to move bodily as a whole in Fig. 6 is a view of the glass molding dies and the direction of the dotted arrowB (Figs. 1 and 3). heating arrangements therefor. When the pull 1 first comes in contact with Figs. land 8 respectively are cross-sectional the mandrel 8 after leaving the furnace I, it is so plastic that it completely takes the shape of the mandrel periphery. After about one complete turn of the mandrel the coil turn becomes rigid enough so that it takes up the torque of the mandrel and executes the motion along the length of the mandrel and at the same time it is sufficiently rigid to overcome gravity which tends to flatten the cross section. In order to insure that a positive drive is conveyed from the mandrel to each viscous turn as it is being formed the mandrel is preferably formed with two sections, namely a forming section and a rigid coil receiving section, indicated respectively in Fig. 2 by the numerals 8, II and an intervening transition section T. The forming section I is larger in cross section than the receiving section II. The coil receiving section II may be circular in cross section, it being understood that the two sections 8 and H gradually and smoothly merge at the transition region T.

In the event the forming section of the mandrel is to be water-cooled, it may be hollow and provided with a water inlet tube. If air-cooling is desired the tapered part of the forming section can be perforated and a supply of cooling air is forced through the bore of the mandrel. The cooling air then emerges radially outward through the perforations. In either case the outer surface of the mandrel must be smooth enough to allow the formed glass coils to slide lengthwise along it, the cooling of the mandrel preventing any accidental adherence of the coil thereto. The taper of the forming mandrel is so chosen that the contraction of the glass coil during its passage along the cooled mandrel keeps the coil just tight enough to insure the transfer of the torque from the mandrel to the coil without producing undue friction against the axial movement of the coil. As the hardened glass helix reaches the end II of the mandrel, it engages a knife-edge rotating wheel 35 which scratches or nicks each individual turn which can be easily broken off from adjacent turns.

Referring to Figs. 4, 4a, 5, 5a, and 6 there is shown a typical header forming die arrangement using the inner and outer glass coils or rings produced by the foregoing described method. The male part of the die is shown in Figs. 4, 4a, 5 and 5a and is formed with two stepped cornered shoulders l6, |1, and a rounded shoulder l8. The female part of the die is shown in the upper portion of Fig. 6. The flat upper face I! is provided with a series of recesses arranged iii the path of a circle or polygon to receive slidably the leadpins 20. Preferably the face I! has a central pointed or tapered projection 2| for forming a rudimentary exhaust tubulation. A glass coil 22 01' approximately the same outer diameter as the circle circumscribed by the inner margins of the lead pins, is dropped in place as shown in Figs. 4 and 4a. Then another glass coil 23 is dropped around the pins as shown in Figs. 5 and 5a. A complementary female die 33 (Fig. 6) with openings 32 to receive the projecting pins is placed over the assembly of Figs. 5 and 5a and the glass coils 22 and 23 are heated to approximately 900 C. by burners 34 as shown in Fig. 6, rendering them plastic whereupon the two parts of the die are subjected to pressure thus forming a substantially cup-shaped header with the pins 20 rigidly fastened therein with portions extending from opposite sides of the header as shown for example in U. S. Design Patent No. 132,858.

The formed header may then be annealed and receive any suitable electrode assembly such as disclosed in U. 8. Patent No. 2,250,184 to form a mount. This mount can then be sealed to a glass bulb to form a complete tube which is there- 5 upon subjected to an appropriate evacuation schedule well-known in the radio tube industry. After evacuation the exhaust tubulation is tipped off and the completed envelope may have a metal shielding base attached thereto as shown in U. S.

10 Patent No. 2,250,184.

While in the foregoing description the invention has been illustrated in connection with a header for an electron tube, it will be understood that the invention is equally well applicable to lo headers for lamp bulbs and the like, or in connection with any device which is required to have one or more metal inserts sealed therethrough so as to be rigidly united to the glass. Furthermore, while the invention finds its immediate '10 practical utility in connection with electron tube headers of the rigid pronged or rigid lead-in type, it will be understood that the invention is also applicable where the lead-ins are in the form of thin flexible wires. Furthermore, while the header is disclosed as constituting the closing member of an evacuated bulb, it will be understood that it can be used as a contact base for attachment to an otherwise completed lamp or bulb. Various other changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

It will be clear from the foregoing description that the glass blanks may be used either as single I turn coils or as plural-tum coils, depending upon the thickness that is desired in the finished header. Furthermore, instead of forming the glass header from a single inner coil and a single outer coil, a plurality of nested coils 24, 25, 26 may be used both interiorly and exteriorly of the 40 contact pins. In this latter case it is possible to use more than one circle of contact pins. Thus the pins may be arranged in circular sets with one set on a wider circle than the other set,.and nested glass coils may be used as illustrated diagrammatically in Figs. '7 and 8 wherein one set of. pins is designated 30, and the other set is designated 3|. Thus the header may be con sidered as formed of a series of pins transversely sandwiched between adjacent glass coils 2|, 25,

28. Thus it becomes possible to make headers of any desired diameter and number of pins. Likewise, while it has been mentioned that the header may be formed from glass coils of substantially the same cross-sectional diameter, it will be understood that one or more coils may be of larger cross-sectional diameter than the rest depending upon the contour that is desired in the finished glass header. Furthermore, instead of employing glass coils made from blan s of substantially the same softness characteristics e. g., so-called soft glasses, it will be understood that the coils may have different degrees of softness or hardness so as to form a graded softness or hardness in different parts of the glass header. Thus, relatively hard glass coils may be used where the rigid metal prongs are to be sealed and a soft glass coil may be used at the center to enable a soft glass exhaust tubulation or the like to be readily sealed thereto. Likewise, the outermost coil may be of a different hardness characteristic in the event that the glass header is to be sealed directly to a metal bulb or the like.

Subject matter disclosed in this application and Gil removed from the die whereupon it is ready to not claimed herein is disclosed and claimed in coary 16, 1942. a

What I claim is: l

I pencung application Serial No. 426,970, flled Janu- 1. Themethod of making a substantially flattened glass header for electron tubes and the like which includes, forming a molten glass mass into a plurality of rigid glass coils by directly with drawing and winding a viscous glass pull from said molten glass mass,-positioning a plurality of said coils substantially coaxially in a mold, and

heating said coils in said mold and subjecting them to molding pressure to form said flattened lass member.

2. The method of making a substantially flattened class member which includes, directly withdrawingirom a molten glass mass a plurality of 10 to form said flattened glass member.

- BENNETT s. ELLEFSONQ 

